The annual Teletón fundraising event this weekend for Costa Rica's National Children's Hospital beat its target of about $850,000.

The telethon launched Friday and ended yesterday morning, and before all donations were counted funds had already reached 477 million colones, equal to more than $870,000.

The event had a little help from pop singers, including Spain's Chenoa, Venezuela's José Luis Rodríguez “El Puma,” Mexico's Nikki Clan and Colombia's Alicastro.

The money will finance new medical equipment for the hospital's burn treatment unit.

Cristal Pérez, 11, was this year's telethon poster child, having suffered second- and third-degree burns on her face, arms and legs in an accident that occurred at a school science fair.